Environmental Science 12th Edition by William Cunningham,Mary Ann Cunningham

Exercise 5

Edge effects are a fundamental consideration in nature preserves. We usually expect to find dramatic edge effects in pristine habitat with many specialized species. But you may be able to find interior-edge differences on your own college campus, or in a park or other unbuilt area near you. Here are three testable questions you can examine using your own local patch of habitat: (1) Can an edge effect be detected or not (2) Which species will indicate the difference between edge and interior conditions (3) At what distance can you detect a difference between edge and interior conditions To answer these questions, you can form a hypothesis and test it as follows:
Examine your lists, and determine whether your hypothesis was correct. Can you see a change in species presence \ absence from 0 to 25 m Were you correct in your prediction of which species disappeared with distance from the edge If you can identify an edge effect, at what distance did it occur